(CNN) – As voters in Wisconsin, Maryland, and the District of Columbia prepare to cast ballots on Tuesday, Rick Santorum would not say in an interview on CNN's "John King, USA," if this is his last stand.

"My epitaph has been written many, many times throughout the course of this campaign," he said. "So I'm just going to take it a day at a time and we're going to keep working very, very hard and go out and articulate the principles that I think will win this election in the fall."FULL POST

Portland, Maine (CNN) – President Barack Obama wrapped up an afternoon fundraising swing through the northeast Friday, declaring his Republican opponents have a go-it-alone attitude that threatens to permanently stifle the country's middle class.

"They would gut things that we've always believed is at the core of making America great - education, science, caring for the most vulnerable." the president to chants of "four more years" in a packed Portland, Maine gymnasium. "They are wrong."FULL POST

CNN's GUT CHECK | for DAY, DATE, YEAR | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

STOP THE PRESSES: Current TV cuts ties with Keith Olberman and announces Eliot Spitzer program

BUSH INSPIRES NEW TUNE ON CAMPAIGN MIX TAPE: Former President George H.W. Bush set the tone and the music for the Romney campaign. Yesterday Bush said, “I do think it’s time for the party to get behind Gov. Romney. And was reminding me Kenny Rogers sang, ‘It’s time when to hold ‘em and time when to fold ‘em,’ Well I think it’s time for people to all get behind this good man.” …. Today, on the trail, our Rachel Streitfeld reports the Romney campaign advance team started playing “The Gambler” at its events.

(CNN) – President Barack Obama invoked his oft-used "change" mantra Friday to firmly stand behind the national health care law following three days of hearings over its constitutionality before the Supreme Court.

"Change is the health care reform we passed after over a century of trying," Obama told a crowd at the University of Vermont in Burlington. "Reform that will finally ensure that in the United States of America no one will go broke just because they get sick."FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Another major conservative figure backs Mitt Romney. His voice joins a growing chorus of major names in the Republican Party calling for the divisive GOP nomination battle to come to an end.

On Friday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan endorsed Romney's bid for the White House, saying, "I believe he is the right person for the job."

Washington (CNN) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney picked up another major endorsement Friday when conservative favorite Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, whose state votes Tuesday, called Romney "the right person for the job."

"I am convinced that Mitt Romney has the skills, the tenacity, the principles, the courage and the integrity to do what it takes to get America back on track," Ryan said on Fox News. "I believe he is the right person for the job."